817.M41
Segmentum Obscurus
Koronus Expanse
Winterscale's Realm
surface of the planet Maleziel
The dim sun shone high in the sky, yet the world was still in apparent twilight. The wind blew across its barren landscape until broken by a massive structure, the sprawling hulk of an ancient void ship, the Maleziel, which lay half-buried in the ground. Thousands of years of scavenging had left it little more than what appeared to be ribs of the carcass of some monstrous creature. Still, its massive figurehead remained intact, the figure of a great winged-angel looking up at the sky. Around its wreckage had grown a shanty town.
Captain Josef Vengel walked carefully and kept his eyes open. Three combat-servitors walked on either side of him and four trudged along behind him. The servitors were armed with bolt-guns and shock prods. In front of him, the enormous bulk of the red-robed Magos Alidyne strode toward the entrance of a broken building with smoke flowing out of a small tower extending from its roof. The Magos had no visible weapons but Vengel knew the Tech-Priest was always armed. Beside Alidyne, he saw the curvy back of a woman in a light blue long dress and blue boots whose long black hair stretched half-way down her back. I wish we could have left Alia out of this, he thought while admiring the view of his Navigator.
Captain Vengel caught himself just in time to keep from running into the back of Alidyne. The Magos had stopped and was staring up at the massive winged figurehead of the crashed void ship. "Insufferable prick," his mechanical voice mumbled.
"Who?" asked Vengel. "The people we are supposed to meet, the Tutors?"
"Never mind," mumbled Alidyne. The Tech-Priest lowered his head back to the sliding door in front of him and walked up to it. Light shown through the cracked opening.
What is that about? thought Captain Vengel. He did not have time to ponder the thought further as Alidyne reached out from under his robes with a mechanical appendage and took hold of the door, sliding it open. Bright light shown out from within, nearly blinding him. The Captain shaded his eyes with his left hand and followed the Magos and Alia into the structure. The servitors waited outside.
Inside, the air was warm and smelled of smoke. The floor was made of dirt. The rustic feeling was countered by the very bright lights hanging from the arched ceiling. Against the left wall, there was a stone chamber which held a fire and had stonework leading up from it to the ceiling. The smoke tower, Vengel thought. On the right side was stationed a half-dozen burly men in old clothes. Some held autoguns and others held pipes or sharpened rods, makeshift weapons. They fidgeted, as if ready to fire for no reason, but paused to take a long look at Alia. If she opens that third eye, they will cry and scream for mercy as the warp consumes their souls, Vengel laughed to himself. He looked around Alia and Alidyne to the far wall. At a desk was sitting a man wearing a dark blue greatcoat and whose long black hair was pulled behind him into a ponytail. I'd bet he has a piece hidden under the table, Vengel thought. I would. On each side of him stood a huge man in black flak armour with a black helmet and his face hidden behind a rebreather. Armour or clothing covered every portion of their bodies with no flesh visible. Vengel noted each was armed with a boltgun. Those two are the enforcers of the Tutors, he told himself. The others are just local enforcers. He patiently waited for someone to speak.
The man seated at the table stood up and spoke first. "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Victor Setphin and I am here representing the Tutors." He reached out with his right hand and awaited a handshake.
The Magos did not offer his hand in return. "I know…who you are," replied Alidyne. "I am…Genetor Salk. Behind me is…Captain Josef Matisse…commander of the Cerberus. Beside me is…Peta, Navigator of the Cerberus." The Magos reached over with a mechanical appendage and patted the top of her head. "Peta is…good girl," he said.
Vengel cringed as the Magos petted Peta. Why do I let him do that to her? he asked himself but already knew why.
Victor Setphin looked for a moment at the Navigator and then back to Alidyne.
"Excellent hypno-conditioning," he said. "But, more importantly, will the conditioning remain intact if she uses her Navigator powers?" He looked sternly at the Magos. "A Navigator is useless to us if she can't navigate a vessel through the warp."
Useless? thought Vengel. This is not going to end well.
"Would you care for a demonstration of her Navigational abilities?" asked the Magos of the Tutor representative. Vengel cringed when the man nodded yes. Then, he cringed again as a snake-like mechanical appendage emerged from Alidyne's robes and pointed to the rightmost man. "You'd better move," he said to the others.
The others hurriedly moved to the corner by the desk. The man stood for a moment, frozen, then screamed "No!" and lowered his autogun to fire.
Alia's third eye opened first.
A blast of fell purple energy lanced forward from her forehead and engulfed the man for a moment. Then, her third eye snapped shut and the blast was gone. His remains collapsed to the ground. Most of his flesh was gone, exposing charred bones, but his clothing was still intact. Suddenly, his body quivered and his eyes opened. Heavens. He's still alive. The thought froze Vengel in place.
The other men jumped over to their former comrade and began stomping his remains in order to put him out of his misery. I'm going to be sick, thought Vengel.
"Good Peta," said the Magos, snapping Vengel back into focus. He looked over to see one of Alidyne's mechanical appendages patting her on the head. His nose was suddenly filled with the sweet smell of burning flesh. "Master Setphin," said the Magos as he turned toward the representative of the Tutors. "Does Peta meet…standards of performance…for using Navigator abilities…under hypno-conditioning?"
Victor Setphin had turned pale and just sat there staring with wide eyes at the charred corpse. The enforcers sitting on either side were unfazed. Finally, Setphin managed to utter, "Yes," in response.
"Excellent," said Alidyne, momentarily losing his mask and speaking more like a human than a machine. He quickly recovered. "I need…the following…test subjects…breeders…clones function improperly…if grown…gestation tank. Perform better…if gestated…in breeder. Also…more cost effective." The Magos paused, allowing the information to sink into Setphin. "Cannot use Peta. Her conditioning…involves chemicals. Need clean subject…for clone gestation."
"Of all the resources I thought you might ask for, breeders should be easy to supply," answered Setphin, almost breaking into a grin. "We are the most reputable slavers in the Expanse after all. What will be your terms of service?"
"Need male test subjects," answered Alidyne. "Screened…free from…genetic physical defect…free from mutation. Injuries to extremities…acceptable."
After that, Vengel barely paid any attention as Setphin and Magos Alidyne haggled back and forth. He stared at Alia who simply stared off into the distance. Why? he asked himself. He said the conditioning to control a Navigator would be brutal but I didn't know it would make you little more than a servitor. He looked at her sadly and said to her in his head, I'm sorry.
Hearing his name snapped Vengel back to the Magos and the representative from the Tutors. "Yes," answered Alidyne. "For now…Captain Matisse…wishes for…transport work.
Setphin laughed. "From his looks, I thought he would be more the raider type. I guess you can't blame a man for shirking away from danger if he can." He reached a data module to the Magos who accepted it with a small appendage. "Your instructions are included here for your first delivery."
"Josef is survivor," answered the Magos. "Like me. When push…comes to shove…he will act…decisively." Setphin looked at Vengel for a moment and then nodded. "We leave now," said Alidyne.
Without another word, Alidyne and Alia walked out of the building. Vengel quickly followed in step behind them. As they emerged, the combat-servitors stepped into place around them and the group made their way through the shanty town.
"What do you want me to call you?" asked Vengel. "Do you want me to call you Magos Alidyne or Genetor Salk?"
Alidyne laughed. It was strange to Vengel, hearing a poorly generated, yet full, mechanical laugh. "Magos Quintus Alidyne will do. For a period of time, I will use Salk in the open so as to not tip off the Inquisition. After a while, I will return to Quintus. Perhaps I will use Quintus Maximus again. I authored a very heretical book under that pseudonym once." He laughed again.
He mocked me for my ego not letting me drop 'Josef' but he insists on using Quintus, thought Vengel. After a moment, he mustered his courage and asked, "Is that your true name?"
The Magos stopped in his tracks and Vengel became uneasy. "My true name. I haven't thought of that in a long while," he said. "That name is related to an individual I used to perform research with and battlefield operations alongside." The Magos paused another moment and Vengel worried he have gone too far when an appendage came out from under the Magos' robes but it simply pointed to the dull sun in the sky. "He is an insufferable ass, with an ego as big as the sun, who thought I should continually play second fiddle behind him." The Magos began looking at each of his appendages. "I grew tired of that."
"Is that who you were talking about earlier?" asked Vengel.
"No," Alidyne snapped back. "Another insufferable prick. This individual and I were both born on Earth. Quintus was a common name in the very ancient days of Rome, a major city on Earth. He proudly claimed that his ancestry dated back to ancient Rome." The Magos let out a sharp mechanical laugh. "He was born in Ingolstadt but claimed Roman ancestry while I was born in Rome itself. I never let him forget it." The Magos raised his bulk, puffing his chest out.
"Where is this Earth?" asked Vengel.
The Magos looked turned his mechanical face toward Vengel and stared at him for a moment. "Where is Earth?" He paused and then answered the question. "Earth is Holy Terra." Vengel's jaw dropped. "You see, the name Quintus was very common in the family from which he claimed ancestry and with which he shared the surname, Fabius." He laughed aloud again. "He has eyes and ears scattered throughout Segmentum Obscurus. Every time he hears word of genetic heresies performed by someone using the name Quintus, he will know it is me." The Magos lowered his bulk and turned around. His mechanical eyes looked directly into Vengel's. "It will be like poking my finger in his eye from half-way across the galaxy."
The Magos turned back around and began walking through the shanty town again with Alia at his side. Vengel followed, surrounded by the combat-servitors. This man is crazy.